Monday, January 24, 2011

In case you are wondering what the splashy yellow dish towel at the top of my sidebar is, let me elaborate. Anyone from Pittsburgh would recognize it in an instant, and maybe even fans of other football teams besides the Steelers would know it's Myron Cope's Terrible Towel.

First let me tell you about Myron Cope. Cope was an American sportscaster and journalist who is best known as “the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers”. According to Wikipedia, “Cope was a color commentator for the Steelers’ radio broadcasts for 35 years. With his distinctive, nasally voice and an identifiable Pittsburgh accent...he celebrated a level of excitement rarely exhibited in the broadcast booth.”

He is much beloved by Pittsburghers, who mourned his death in 2008. In 1987, he was named by the Hearst Corporation as a noted literary achiever, along with Mark Twain, Jack London, Frederic Remington, Walter Winchell, and Sidney Sheldon. At its 50th Anniversary, Sports Illustrated selected Cope’s profile of Howard Cosell as one of the 50 best written works ever published in the magazine.

So what's with the Terrible Towel?

Before a playoff game in 1975, Myron was looking for something to excite the fans. In his own words:

“I said, what we need is something that everybody already has, so it doesn't cost a dime. So I says, ‘We'll urge people to bring out to the game gold or black towels,’ then I’ll tell people if you don't have a yellow, black or gold towel, buy one. And if you don't want to buy one, dye one. We'll call this the Terrible Towel.”

And so the Terrible Towel was born.

It became possibly the best-known fan symbol

of any major pro sports team.

In 1996, Cope gave the rights to The Terrible Towel to the Allegheny Valley School in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania. The school provides care for more than 900 people with mental retardation and physical disabilities, including Cope's autistic son. Proceeds from the Terrible Towel have helped raise $3 million for the school.

When the Steelers won the playoff game against the Jets on Sunday night, thus advancing to the Super Bowl, plenty of people give credit to the thousands of fans in the stadium waving their Terrible Towels.

And it didn't hurt that January 23, the day the game was played,
was Myron's birthday.

Friday, January 14, 2011

What inspires you? brought to us by Shelly of Pics by Shel. A very tricky question indeed, since I have been "under the weather" this week both literally and figuratively and haven't been too inspired at all.

Above is the view from my third floor window...

early morning, snowy, serene, looking over the rooftops of our little town. Just on the other side of those trees is the mall and the hustle and bustle of Route 30. But it's much more inspiring to add a little photoshop filter and imagine it's an impressionistic painting by one of my favorite artists...maybe Monet...it's a little too serene for Van Gogh.

While I've been sniffling, moaning and sneezing inside the house all week, this is what's been going on outside:

I'm surprised I'm even showing you this, I was a very bad gardener and forgot to clean up my pots for the winter. I do like the way the garden light has grown a mushroom cap!

Inside, is quite a contrast. Being sick with a nasty cold is the perfect excuse to accomplish very little besides reading books. I've become addicted to Philippa Gregory's books. Luckily, she's written many of them! No chance of running out soon!

Here is my cohort Oliver, who likes neither coffee nor books, but never passes up a chance to sit in a basket. In fact, he's been very uncomplimentary about my choice of reading material.

"*sniff* yes I read that...I was not impressed. Her historical facts are inaccurate. Tsk tsk," he said.

Well, who cares about being accurate, I say. It's a rollicking good story! If you want accuracy, go read a history book! (And even then, good luck getting the true story.)

So, I'll stay immersed in Tudor England for a while longer. I'm actually feeling a bit better but I'm practicing my sniffles and sneezes in order to stay under the covers a little longer.

If you like historical novels, here are a few others I've read, and they kept me thoroughly engrossed.

The Other Boleyn Girl, the story of Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister; The Red Queen, the story of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII; The Constant Princess, the story of Katherine of Aragon; and The White Queen, (from her series The Cousins' War about the Wars of the Roses) the story of Elizabeth Woodville, the mother of Queen Elizabeth who was married to Henry VII.

I cannot remember whether book titles are to be boldface, underlined, or italic, something that concerned me in my graphic design days, but which I am happily uncaring of now, heehee. So if I got it wrong, sorry! If you let me know, I'll fix it...see, I do still care!

Take a moment to visit Inspiration Avenue here to see the entries in the challenge for this week. Take a peek at what inspires creative people! You still have time to enter your own "inspiration" for this week ~ and you'll be entered in the monthly drawing as a bonus incentive!

Ta ta for now...I'm only about half through The Constant Princess, so must get back to it :)

Began to take some art classes, namely Suzi Blu's
and the lovely and generous Tam's of Willowing.
Suzi is responsible for helping me discover that
my long-ago love of creating art is still alive.
That it's OK to do what you love.

Continued sharing with all my wonderful
friends at Inspiration Avenue.
Actually, before I discovered that I love taking
online art classes, you all were the "inspiration"
that prompted me to return to making art in the first place!